


Anniversary Outtings

by My_Untold_Lies



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Acceptance, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Minor Angst, Outing, Panic Attacks, accidental self outing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2017-04-14
Packaged: 2018-10-18 19:49:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10623939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/My_Untold_Lies/pseuds/My_Untold_Lies
Summary: Rob and Rich accidentally out themselves on their anniversary.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I needed a minor break from writing the sequel to WWM... so this is what happened I hope you enjoy :)
> 
> Thank you to Hudine who helped me edit <3

Rob woke up feeling groggy and hung over. Next to him he could see Rich starting to stir. He reached over and checked his phone. The screen was full of notifications. He took a moment to read the first one and sat bolt up in bed. They were so fucked.

“Rich!” Rob reached over and shook his husband. “Rich, you gotta wake up.”

“Wa’s prob’m,” Rich rolled over and grumbled.

“This is the problem.” Rob showed him the screen.

“Robbie, I can’t read the tiny words, need my readers,” Rich grumbled, pushing Rob’s hand back towards him. “Just tell me what’s going on.”

“We should probably never drink again.”

“What did we manage to do last night, Robert.” Rich reached for his own phone and readers that were sitting on his nightstand.

“We outed ourselves.” Rob squeaked. He had gone back to scrolling through his notifications. Twitter was rather supportive, fans congratulating them, a few joking about it being their second anniversary and feeling out of the loop. His friends were mostly teasing. But he had a voicemail from his manager that he was not looking forward to.

When he and Rich had gotten married right after it became legal, his manager had been furious, saying that he was ruining his chances of becoming anything in this industry. He had thought about changing managers after that but figured that as long as he kept his personal life out of the tabloids, it shouldn’t be an issue. Now, there was no going back. It was all over social media, all over the internet. They still had two days of the con left, and their panel was this afternoon. He and Rich were going to be on stage all day long.

He could feel himself start to panic.

“Whoa, there Bob-o” Rich moved quickly, his hands, taking Rob’s phone and replacing it with his own hands. “Look at me.”

Rob wanted to lean forward and curl into a ball, but he looked up and saw the concern in the golden eyes of his husband.

“Right now, breath with me. In and out” Rich’s voice softly rumbled as they went through the exercise that would help Rob calm down from the panic attack. It didn’t always work, but Rob could feel the calming effects of the breathing exercise take effect this time. Rich had learned years before they had gotten married how to help him with the panic and anxiety when he needed it. He had learned that he could help him and that there were things he could do to help more than just be there. “I know this is not how we were hoping that this would go. I don’t like that we aren’t in control over the situation, but to be honest, the reactions look really positive.”

“I have a voicemail from my agent.”

“Do you want me to listen to it first? or with you?” Rich asked, his thumbs rubbing soothing circles across the back of his hands.

“I don’t know. I need to know what he said, but he’s such an asshole.”

“You really should have changed agents years ago.”

“But he has gotten me so many amazing roles.”

“Other agents can too. We will just have to find you a new one if this goes how I think it will.”

“Play it on speaker,” Rob said resigned. They would both need to know what it said, might as well hear it from the source.

_“Rob, what the hell were you thinking? In all the years I have known you I did not think you would be this reckless with your career. We had a deal, you would keep this abomination of a relationship quiet, and I would not bring it up. You have a lot of clean up to do. Call me.”_

“Well, that was better than I thought it would be.” Rich sighed, handing the phone back to Rob.

“It’s not good. He’s still not on board with our marriage. Perhaps I should just tell him to suck it.” Rob looked at the phone, making the decision. He called his agent back. It was a short conversation where he informed the man that he would not be hiding his relationship any longer and that if the man didn’t like it he would just find someone who would be more accepting of who he decided to spend his life with. When he hung up the phone he looked over at Rich, “Well that felt good.”

“We should get ready for the day; I have a feeling it’s going to be a long one.”

“Do you want to do a Facebook live to confirm or do you want the fans to do the work for us?”

“Let me think about it. I’m not doing anything with my hair like this though.”

“Awe, I like it like this.”

“Robert.”

“Alright showers, and get dressed, then decide about how to deal with all of this.”

“You want to go first?”

“Yeah sure,” Rob stood and stretched, before heading to get ready for the day.

  
———

Rich was finishing up in the bathroom when there was a knock on the hotel room door. “Robbie, will you grab that?”

“Yeah, sure.” Rob flicked off the TV he was watching while avoiding looking at the notifications still pouring in on his phone. He opened the door and saw several of the higher up people who worked for Creation standing outside their door. “Morning, come on in.”

“It has certainly already been an eventful morning,” Adam commented.

“Yeah, we were just getting ready to make a couple decisions about how to handle this whole thing,” Rich said as he walked out of the bathroom completely ready for the day, looking very put together.

“That is part of why we are here. How are you two thinking about handling this?”

“We were thinking that we definitely need to confirm it for people, we don’t want people saying there is misinformation going around. I know we started it last night, but I think we should at least accept the congratulations and then keep things fairly normal for the convention, well as much as we can,” Rob said. He had been thinking through all of this with a fair amount of dread since he had woken up to the news of what they had done while they were drunk the previous evening.

“I think that’s a good idea.”

“Right, then we should record something and put it on twitter then everyone can reblog it and share it around,” Rob said, looking at Rich. He went to his bag and pulled out the rings they kept safely stored when they were traveling. He handed Rich’s to him and slipped on his own. “What do you want to say?”

“I think we can start with thank you.”

They ended up heading out of the room with their entourage to find a place where they could film without being quite so cramped.

“Right, Ready?” Rich asked Rob as they sat down next to each other on the sofa, hands interlaced.

“As I’ll ever be.” They both looked back at the camera and nodded for them to start filming.

“Hi, guys! It’s Rob and Rich here.” Rich started.

“We are so grateful for all of your support, we have been blown away by all of the messages of congratulations.”

“We love hearing from all of you and seeing that y’all have our backs.”

“We would like to say though that it is important to keep the con running as smoothly as possible. We still won’t kiss in photo ops or anything like that. Thank you all so much, and we hope you have a lovely rest of your weekend!” Rob said smiling, before turning and kissing Rich firmly for the camera. He pulled back before it got too risqué. and the camera was lowered.

“That was great guys. I think we can get this posted and that will be out there for everyone to pass around.”

“Thanks for helping with that.”

“Of course. We will see you around today.” The creation staff left them sitting on the couch together. Rob leaned into Rich and looked down at his ring.

“It feels odd to be wearing this in public for the first time,” he commented quietly, the ring glinting as it caught the light.

“It does. But it is going to be nice not to have to be quite so careful about how we interact in public.”

“Humm, true,” Rob pushed away and stood, holding a hand out to Rich. “Let’s go face this day.”

———

The day had not gone so badly, there had been a ton of congratulations and a few people expressing disappointment at them keeping it a secret, but people seemed understanding and supportive over all. There really hadn’t been many problems yet, but they were both nervous about their panel. The band had just stepped out on stage and were starting to play. Rob tried to keep breathing, but he could feel himself on the edge of a panic attack.

“Robbie, it’s going to be fine, all of these people love us and are looking forward to this panel.”

“I am trying to believe that.”

“Well, let’s go face the crowd.” Rich squeezed his hand and pushed him forward letting Rob and Matt make the first appearances on the stage.

He heard the crowd cheering like they always did. He mounted the stairs and couldn’t help but laugh nearly hysterically at what had happened to the stage since the last time they were up there. No longer confronted with the usual horror inspired dead trees and moss, there were wedding decorations, streamers, balloons, the ridiculous prop they had from kings of con where they were both showing off their rings.

“Well, this isn’t what I expected to see out here.” He said into the microphone.

“I don’t know why not?” Matt teased. “You’re the one who decided to announce your wedding anniversary on social media.”

“Nah, that was Rob.”

“Hey! Don’t throw me under the bus on this one! We were celebrating last night; I am fairly certain we are both responsible for this whole mess.” Rob shot back with a huge grin.

“Ok, fine.” Rich conceded with a smile. “Alright then, lets get to questions! You!”

There was plenty to laugh about throughout the panel, like always. There were as always a few questions none of them had any idea how to answer. They got to the last question, Misha was hopefully waiting in the wings, and Rich turned to walk towards the young woman.

“You.”

“Hi, guys! I just wanted to say that I love all of you and congratulations Rob and Rich on your wedding anniversary.” She paused, “My question is for you two, How did you two get together?”

“Oh boy.” Rich sighed. “Rob, you want to take this one?”

“I am fairly certain that you know how we got together, babe,” Rob teased.

“Sure, but you tell it better than me.”

Rob sighed at his husband. “Fine, so as you know we really started hanging out at the conventions at our first Rome, and in a way, we really did fall in love there. We spontaneously became very close. It put a lot of strain on some of our other relationships. Right before my stroke we were getting really close; I think it might have ended up taking only another year before we got together if my stroke hadn’t happened.”

_Flashback_

“Let me in there, that’s my husband.” Rob could hear Rich outside the curtain, telling the nurse. They had just put him in ICU and given him the medicine. He was feeling groggy, but he could hear the worry in Rich’s voice. It surprised him that Rich would say something like that. They had not even started dating.

“He needs to rest.”

“He needs someone there so that when he wakes up he doesn’t panic. He will panic if he wakes up somewhere unfamiliar alone and hooked up to a bunch of machines.”

“Fine, but let him rest.”

Rich came into the room quietly and took his hand. Holding it and telling Rob to hold on, everything was going to be fine; it just had to be, there was so much that still needed to happen.

They never asked Rich to leave; he could be found at Rob’s side until he was stable enough to go back to the United States. It was sweet. When they got back though, things had mostly gone back to normal. It was something that drove Rob crazy until he was well enough to speak again.

_End Flashback_

“It was really during my recovery that we finally ended up together,” Rob concluded. He looked over at Rich. “Anything to add?”

“Nope, you did a wonderful job of telling that story.”

“I have a bit of a follow-up question.”

“Oh?” Rich spun as he asked.

“Why did you guys hide your relationship for so long?”

“We really just wanted to keep things quiet. We had a lot of things going on. And we've always liked to keep our private lives out of the spotlight.” Rich knew that people would always want to know that, and he really couldn't give them a satisfactory answer because there really were too many things to consider.

“Thank you for answering both of my questions. You guys are the best.”

The band had joined them on the stage, and Rob walked over to his mike to sing in Misha.”

———

“Well, that seemed to go really well.” Rob was swapping out his shirt for a t-shirt and a jacket he could wear to the concert in a few hours.

“Yeah, I was a little surprised we didn’t end up with more questions about our relationship. Not that I minded. One was quiet enough.” Rich was lounging on their bed, keeping one eye on Rob and the other on his phone.

“It brought up a lot of things I really didn’t want to think about to be quite honest.” Rob checked himself out in the mirror.

“True. I am kinda glad that the fans didn’t know about this before now. I wouldn’t have wanted all of the scrutiny while we were settling into our relationship.”

“That could have defiantly made things tricky.” Rob turned to his husband. “Babe, is anyone going out to dinner tonight or is it getting catered to the green room?”

“Uh. It looks like the band, and Matt and Jason are all going out. Want me to tell them we are coming?” Rich asked not looking up from his phone.

“Yes. It will be nice to do something else normal.” Rob putzed around for a moment grabbing his phone and a room key before heading towards the door, Rich following closely behind.

———

They were all sitting in a big car that they had gotten to go to the restaurant, Rob was sitting next to Rich, their hands intertwined again. It was amazing to be able to even make such small gestures in public that they kept finding themselves closer than they usually would be, just enjoying it all.

Rob let his mind drift back to the first time he and Rich actually sat down and talked about feelings. Well, to be fair neither of them had been able to sit much for that conversation, both of them far too anxious about admitting that they were defiantly in love with their best friend to be able to be still.

_Flashback_

“Rob, can we talk?” Rich looked entirely nervous. Something was up, and it wasn’t that they were back in Toronto one year after his stroke.

“Of course, what’s up?”

“I think we should do this up in one of our rooms.” Rich glanced around, reminding Rob that they really didn’t have any privacy here if this was a personal conversation which he was betting it was.

“Um ok, I think ya know yours is closer.” Rob led the way out of the green room and to the elevator up to the third floor where their rooms were. Rich’s was only four doors down from the elevator. “Right, so what’s going on Rich?”

“I uh have a ummm confession to make.”

“Ok.”

“iminlovewithyou,” Rich hurriedly said.

“Um, what?” Rob asked as he tried to decipher what his friend had just said. Then realization dawned on his face. “You’re in love with me.”

“Yes.”

“Oh, wow.” Rob stared at the anxious looking man in front of him, who was looking like he might just run away if he got the opportunity and then try to pretend like none of this had happened. “Rich.”

“You don’t have to say anything. I just needed you to know. I couldn't lie about it. I know you don’t feel the same. I know that you are happy with your wife and everything.”

“Whoa, whoa. Rich, I wasn’t going to reject you. I just was very surprised.” Rob glanced at the floor trying not to start pacing. He rocked from his toes to his heels trying to put together the words he needed to say next. “Our relationship has been heading this way since the beginning. I am not upset that you have come around to realize that is how you feel. I love you too; I have for a long time. I want to try to have a relationship with you, but I won’t cheat on my wife.”

“You— you love me too?” Rich sounded flabbergasted, like he had never been able to bring himself to even hope that this would be possible.

“Yes.”

“Ok. We can work with this then.”

“There are quite a few details to work out.”

“Right.”

_End Flashback_

“What ya thinking about.” Rich’s voice in the present brought him out of his remembrance.

“I was thinking about when we finally pulled our heads out of our asses and confessed things to each other.”

“Oh, man.” Rich blushed a bit thinking about that evening. “That was so terrifying.”

The car pulled to the curb, and they all piled out heading into the restaurant. It didn’t take long for them to get seated and soon they were all perusing the menu.

“Babe, what ya thinking about getting?” Rob asked softly, the rest of the group chattering around them, excited for the concert later that evening. The con had been going well for them so far as long as you didn’t count their little social media outing as a problem.

“This chicken and tomato thing.” Rich pointed to it on Rob’s menu.

“You two are just too cute together,” Matt commented.

“As if you and your wife are any better,” Rich smirked.

“I didn’t say that. I just don’t get to see you in full couple mode very often.”

“We haven't been able to be this way much.”

“I mean I know what you told the fan, but I also know that’s not even close to the whole story, why did you guys keep it under wraps so long. I can understand in the beginning, but after you were married, why hide it?”

“My manager thought that it would ruin my chances at continuing to get jobs. Even though there were plenty of out celebs by that point who were having no problems what so ever. We weren’t quite ready to be out, so we followed his advice and a few months turned into two years without even thinking about it.”

“I suppose that makes some strange sense. Why didn’t you ever change your manager?”

“I did. Well, I don’t have a new one yet, but I don’t have that manager anymore.”

“Well, that’s good news. Maybe you can get in with mine, or someone else who is ok with queer clients. You will be much happier.”

“I am finding that we are both much happier being out. We didn’t even realize how much strain it was putting on us till today when we can do all the little things that we had to be careful about before.” Rob looked at Rich and smiled. “I think there will be some habits that will be a bit hard to break, like the no touching on stage thing.”

“Some we aren’t breaking. I am not going to kiss you on stage.”

“Too bad. I was hoping for a ‘your awesome kiss’ at the end of the concert.”

“You can have all that after we get back to our room.” Rich wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Rob could feel himself blush at the suggestion, the idea that they could say such things out loud and not worry that someone was going to pick up on it and start putting together the puzzle pieces.

“Fine.” Rob pretended to pout. He heard several of their table companions giggle at the exchange; he couldn’t help but smile at the easy acceptance.

“But, Rich, the screaming would so be worth it!” Stephen teased.

“No!” Rob leaned into Rich earning the grumpiness in his voice about the topic. It reminded him of the very tense conversation that Rich had had all those years ago with his parents about this new relationship. His parents were not pleased, and it had taken them a long time to come around.

“You know I won’t ask you to do something you aren't willing to do,” Rob said quietly in his ear, a reminder that no one else mattered but the two of them in this relationship. Rich turned to him slightly and smiled softly.

“You know, we have been getting all these questions about how long we've known about you and what it was like keeping secrets.” Matt commented, “It’s crazy how much people are interested in just how you two managed to keep it a secret.”

“Easy, we are friends, and everyone is convinced that Rich here is super straight. People will always talk, but with the characters we play on stage it’s easy for things to be quiet.”

“I think there have been a few times where people have really wondered what was going on,” Rich looked thoughtful as he spoke. “But yeah, it was easy. We just continued the rapport that we already had.”

———

Rob woke up the next morning to his phone ringing. He grimaced and reached over and answered it. Rich groaned at the interruption to his sleep. “Hello?” Rob’s voice was still thick with sleep as he spoke.

“Robert.” His mother’s voice came over the phone.

“Morning, mom. What’s up?”

“Why did I have to hear that you and Rich are now public with your relationship via the internet.”

“Sorry, it’s ended up being an insane weekend, it’s not like we planned this all out and just didn’t tell you. It was something that just happened, and we have been dealing with the fallout really,” Rob explained as Rich snuggled into his side, trying to catch a few more minutes of sleep as Rob talked.

“How did that go over with you agent.”

“It didn’t.” Rob sighed. “The fans have been incredibly supportive and so have our friends. So I am not too worried about all of this. I know that there will be plenty of agents out there who won’t care one way or another about my relationship.”

“That’s good to hear. Alright. I just wanted to see what was going on.”

“I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye.”

Rob hung up the phone and let his eyes drift closed again. They had almost an hour before they had to get up and he let his mind drift.”

_Flashback_

Rob paced nervously in their living room; he was waiting for Rich to finish getting ready. They had been together for years now, and they had finally decided to tie the knot. Rich had asked him months ago if he would marry him and Rob had, of course, said yes. And now he was sweating in his perviousness that today was the day.

They were signing the paperwork at City Hall and then going to a party that had their closest friends and family. It really shouldn't be this terrifying, but it was. Rich appeared out of the bathroom looking incredibly put together in his suit. He walked towards Rob and stopped a few feet from him.

“Ready for this?” He asked quietly.

“Yes. I am so excited.”

“You look like you are about to panic.”

“That too.” Rob smiled. “Let’s go do this.”

_End Flashback_

The rest of the day he only remembers in snatches and photographs. He remembers kissing Rich in the Court House; he remembers them cutting the cake at the party; he remembers dancing together. He remembers his parents congratulating them. He remembers Rich’s parent’s warm hugs and their happiness.

He doesn’t remember them getting home afterwards. But he does remember that they collapsed into bed and fell asleep happily snuggled together.

After that things seemed to go back to normal for them. Married didn’t really change anything. It was still them; they still had jobs where they were away from each other for weeks at a time. They still did the conventions. Rob still had his band.

And now they were laying here two years later having finally told the world that they were together, and things had only changed a little bit. Most things stayed the same though. They had to get up on stage in two hours and open the last day of the con. They had a panel together later this afternoon, and after that, they would make their way back home.

Life went on. He smiled and kissed Rich’s head, letting his mind wander to all the things they had to do when they got home.

_END_


End file.
